As you know this past weekend I competed in my first ever half ironman. I knew going into this race it was going to be the biggest challenge I have ever taken on not only from the distance itself but also with the plethora of injuries I was carrying going into the race including the stress fracture in my right tibia which I had been running on for a couple months now, some widespread inflammatory issue that had been causing incredibly painful widespread stiffness in both my legs from the hips down, and then most recently out of the blue a left hamstring injury which I have been carrying since about Wednesday before the race - go figure. So yes I had a lot going through my head going into the race from a strategy point of view which I discussed in my last post, and many thoughts about what my already bruised and battered legs would feel like after a 90 km bike ride pushing a good amount of power.
The race started at a 6:35am. Yes I did say 6:35am. This was pretty difficult to cope with from the start since it would mean I would be well out of my routine and even things like having a morning coffee would be difficult since no coffee shops or even room service would be open at 3:30am when I would have to wake up. But my dad did manage to get coffee at a bar that was still open -- and mentioned that he had to go through some pretty shady looking crowd to get it. After arriving at the race in complete darkness I was starting to wonder if the sun would even be up for the start of the race. Because the sun still wasn't up at about 6:20 we were unable to warmup in the water. The actual race course as you already know was two laps where you would have to get out of the water run around an arch with timing mat and run back in for a second lap. The most difficult part of the course though would be the opening 50 meters or so where you ran into the water and would have to make a sharp left turn around a bouy after only about 50 meters. So I lined up to the right, with the plan of taking it wide around the turn figuring I was one of the faster swimmers there, and would essentially be content swimming the extra little bit of distance if it meant I wouldn't get kicked, pulled, grabbed under, dolphin dived on top of, etc. Well it was decent plan but it is so funny how in these races people, who are not great swimmers and will finish ages after you, set off into that water like a grizzly whose spotted a school of salmon. They go ballistic the opening little bit at a torrid pace and fight, grab, kick, and pull anyone in their way. So ya it was a crazy start but within about 2 minutes I was out on my own and starting to get into my rhythm. The biggest problem was that the race was so early in the morning that there was a significant amount of fog (I'd say about 8ft high) above the water and not a word of a lie I couldn't see a thing. I would look up to sight but it really made no difference as I could only see about 50ft in front of me. What I ended up doing is catching up to the race leader and just sticking on their feet. I continued to sight just to see that I wasn't swerving all over the place, but really I was just hoping that the two of us would be able to figure the course out. Another swimmer caught up to us after a few minutes and now we had a good team of sighters. We came into the out for the first lap together and I slipped and fell pretty hard on the way back into the water as the rug/mat they had there had rolled up a little and I tripped on it. But I got up and just dove back in and got back on the leaders feet. There were a few points on the second lap where I thought I could leave this little group but I didn't want to risk leaving the group and having to rely solely on my own judgement/ability to see whether or not I was going the right way. The three of us exited the water together and cruised through the transition onto the bike nice and quickly, in fact it probably was one of my better swim to bike transitions of the year.
Out onto the bike, I was cruising along at a good pace with a average power of 245 W for the first 25 minutes (bang on what I intended) and past someone who had gone past me in transition, and then there were the two left up ahead in my swim group. I made a big move past the first guy around mile 13 and then my best move of the day past the leader, and needed to sustain a pretty high power to stay clear of him (a 11 minute stretch at 265 W - about 4.7 W/kg). Going back a little, at about 15 minutes into the race I looked down at my arms and noticed a significant amount of moisture on them. At the time I thought this was water left over from the swim but after another 15 minutes when I noticed there was now more droplets on my arms I realized that it was sweat and that I was sweating significantly already. I kept the lead until about 23 miles when the leader from before surged past me. On the second of the two 15 miles laps we were now lapping people starting there first lap and let me tell you there was some crazy blatant drafting going on where there were huge groups literally organized into mini pelotons which was more annoying to me not because they were cheating since they were 15 miles behind me so no way they were catching up, but instead because it made passing them difficult since they were at times 5 wide across the road. My pace decreased significantly trying to get around people, but on one stretch were they were actually sticking to the right I averaged about 45 km/hr for a solid 5 minutes past hundreds of people, and got my pace back on track. At about 30 miles I made another big surge past the leader and was leading again. From about 35-40 miles I was absolutely ripping but the problem was that after only 1:30 into the race I had gone through all of my on-board hydration/nutitrion already, an amount I was intending on lasting until about the 2 hour mark. At the final bottle exchange point at about 43 miles, I grabbed a bottle and ended up missing the turn to the right to go back the 13 miles to the finish of the bike leg thanks to all the commotion at the bottle exchange tables. The wrong turn cost me an entire minute and the leader past me at this point. In my haste to try to catch back up as quickly as possible, I didn't manage to empty the bottle from the exchange zone completely (probably less than half) and ran out of fluid again quickly, and went without anything for approximately the last 10 miles of the bike. My legs began to cramp and the hamstring which was bugging me on Wednesday started to bug me once again, well probably more than just bug me, it was starting to downright hurt. With the lack of hydration and energy my speed and power began to quickly decrease and was passed by another competitor. I fought hard to maintain my second place passing this guy with about five miles to go in the bike but he overtook me again in the last bit. My speed and power continued to fall and was already feeling pretty ragged. I got off the bike in third place after a 2:13:22 90 km bike (40.5 km/hr average) but despite feeling dehydrated and drained from the heat, somehow managed to have the fastest bike to run transition I have ever had.
I started out the run and despite feeling like garbage I managed to hold a pretty quick pace for the first few kilometres around 3:30/km, and by about the 1 mile mark caught the second place guy and passed him easily. The leader was now in my sights and about 50 meters or so ahead, and it would stay like this for the next 5 km or so. My pace stayed quite strong until around the 7-8km mark when the hamstring really started cramping and then my body was beginning to shutdown. I could feel the energy completely gone from my legs and the pace was dropping like a stone. I quickly lost sight of the leader and the mindset turned quickly from I'm going to win and go under 4 hours, since I was on pace for that at that point, to I desperately need to cool down and get as much fluid into me now to survive to the end. I was grabbing as much as I could at the aid stations taking up to 6 cups of fluid and carbohydrate drinks per station and a cup of ice which I poured down my shirt front and back. The heat became unbearable and there was no shade on the course for any relief. I thought about walking so many times but just kept moving, not quickly but just one foot in front of the other. I started the second lap and I was completely out of it, not really thinking anymore about the leader, and my hamstring would seize up whenever I tried to pick up and run a little quicker. I was pretty much running sideways to avoid extending that leg out and stretching the hamstring. Got a lot of encouragement by the volunteers at the aid stations, which I really appreciate, with people saying c'mon Frank you can do it just don't stop, and we're extremely helpful getting the ice and water and drinks to me and giving me gels. I was still in second but it was pretty obvious to the volunteers that I was in a world of hurt. I kept going and I have never been so emotional in the middle of a race. I was pretty much weeping in pain and a lack of energy and knowing how until 8k I was still on pace for 4 hours on the nose, and now I was seeing the clock on my watch get to 3:50 and 3:55 and 4 hours and still had a couple miles to go. The cramped up hamstring stopped me at one of the aid stations down to a shuffle and grabbed so many cups of fluid the volunteers were even impressed I was able to grab so many cups. I continued running along and saw the 1 mile to go. I dug deep to finish this one and rounded to final turn into the finishing chute. The clock read 4:16 I crossed the line and collapsed to the ground in a heap. Was there for a little while and then into the medical tent to get bags of ice out all over my back chest and under my arms. Really to be perfectly honest I wasn't thinking about much at this point. I was just so absolutely exhausted my mind couldn't even think about my time or place or how I felt. It took me a while to think about what I wanted to say about the race because after when I came to my senses I was so dissapointed with my run,1:31 for the half marathon, and the fact that I was on pace for a world class time until the 8 kilometre mark in the run. But now a few days later I know what I want to say about the race. Here it is, I went to the race with the goal of qualifying for the world championships next year in Penticton and I did that finishing first overall in my age group to win the national championships and although I crossed the line 2nd overall a few people from the second wave had a quicker time than me so I finished 6th overall --one person in another wave beat me by a single second although I didn't see them the entire race, and really it doesn't matter how much I was hurting I think I could've eaked out one more second given how much time I was taking at some aid stations. Still 6th overall in a race that included competitors from over 40 states across the US and more than 20 countries is not too bad. Not to mention, of course it was disappointing not getting the four hours that I was on pace for at the 8k mark of the run, but a 4:16 half ironman is still a pretty elite time I think and one that qualifies me to submit my application next year to compete as a professional triathlete. On top of that I learned so much about the distance and what it takes to be successful in the distance with regard to my pacing, my nutrition and even things like what it is like to travel to a race and coping with the different routines than home. All in all, I do believe that this will be like my first marathon when I was only 18 years old where I ran 3:11 and change and to my second a few months later running about 16 minutes faster in 2:56 (and then fourth was 2:34) just because I had experienced what the distance feels like and what to expect. I am proud of myself and how I fought and battled out there, and that I never gave up not once even with every ounce of my body telling me to stop. Nobody can ever question my ability to power through and persevere after this race.
I will update you In my next post to about my plans going into the winter and a preliminary schedule for next season, but until then it's time to really relax and let my body head to toe heal. I will also just update this post in probably another day and add in the pictures from the race once they come out.
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